A Shadow in the Sunlight
by NexusOfTheKeys
Summary: When Nico gets injured patrolling the edge of Tartarus, he goes to Will's house to recover his health (and maybe something more). But while the two demigods grow closer, yet another Olympian threat begins to menace the world. Basic Solangelo fluff with an actual plot, with hints of Frazel and Percabeth. Rated T for literary violence and innuendo.
1. Nico Hates Bugs

(A/N) Hey guys, Nexus here. This is my first time attempting to write a HoO fic, so please be nice and tell me what you think of it!

Disclaimer: I unfortunately own none of the characters, ideas or concepts in the Heroes of Olympus books.

A Shadow in the Sunlight

Nico hesitantly staggered toward the condo, clutching a slightly bloody rag to his right shoulder. The wound itself wasn't really all that bad, just a scratch compared to some of his previous injuries, but it was serious enough in its own way. Grimacing, he tried to flex his right hand and then clenched his teeth at the explosion of pain that resulted from it. It felt like someone had put his arm to sleep and then hooked up a live power line to it. Groaning slightly, Nico blinked away the black spots from his vision and continued to lurch toward the beachside house, determined to reach the one person he wanted to see more than anyone else.

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><p>He had been in the Underworld on a mission for Hades when he had been wounded; on orders from his father, he was scouting around the outer rim of Tartarus. After the war with the Giants had ended, the inhabitants of Tartarus had become more and more restless, and the noises of angered Titans and monsters that echoed from the Pit could be heard all across the Underworld. To say the least, the signs of activity made Hades uneasy, so he had pulled out all of the stops and set up a guard duty around the edge of the giant abyss that let to Tartarus, "just in case". In case of what, nobody quite knew, but nobody in the Underworld was brave or stupid enough to question the Lord of the Dead.<p>

When Hades began to set up the newly termed Chasm Guard, the first thing that he had done was to summon his children to the Underworld for recruitment. Nico and Hazel knew that they couldn't ignore a direct order from their father, so they made preparations to leave as quickly as they could. Right as Nico was about to shadow travel them to Hades's palace, Hazel's boyfriend Frank had walked in and wrapped her in a giant Chinese-Canadian hug, causing him to be teleported to the Underworld with them.

As soon as the three demigods had arrived at Hades's obsidian palace, the three Furies had flown up to them and carried them directly into the throne room, where Hades was waiting. He had dismissed Frank completely and briefed his two children on the situation, giving them no choice but to become part of the Chasm Guard. Frank had not taken this well at all; Hades had barely finished talking before Frank had marched straight up to the Lord of the Dead's throne and flat out demanded to be part of the Chasm Guard as well: he refused to let his girlfriend do anything that dangerous alone. Frankly (A/N: ha) Nico was surprised that his father hadn't turned Frank into a muskrat and fed him to Cerberus, but also admired the son of Mars's determination to keep Hazel safe. Apparently Hades had felt the same way, and allowed Frank to join the Guard alongside his girlfriend.

Nico had considered Iris-messaging Will Solace and asking him to join the Guard also, but whenever he pictured the child of the Sun god in the Underworld so far from the sunlight and the sky, he got a pit in his stomach, so he had resigned himself to being in the Guard on his own.

Hades had also recruited several ghosts from Elysium and Asphodel, granting them a half-life in exchange for their services as members of the Guard. All in all, about twenty spirits had joined the Chasm Guard, and Hades had been able to set up a rotating shift between the members. When Nico had gone on his first patrol, he had gone alongside a Huntress named Alyssa who had died in the 1980s and a member of the Roman legion named Arturo who had died in his sleep some 30 years ago. As they walked alongside the edge of the pit, they could hear the shrieks and growls from the creatures within, and though Nico would never admit it, the sounds sent chills down his spine. It didn't help his nerves that Arturo and Alyssa were arguing constantly; Arturo was apparently extremely chauvinistic, and everything he said rubbed Alyssa the wrong way. After about half an hour of heated debate and veiled threats between the two, Nico finally had to use his ghost powers to shut the two up to get some peace and quiet, and as soon as the patrol was over, Nico asked his father if he could patrol alone. Sensing his son's annoyance, Hades had agreed.

The next few patrols went much better for Nico; the half-dozen skeletons that Nico summoned before each patrol were much more agreeable than Alyssa and Arturo were. The noises from the Pit were not any better, however; in fact, they seemed to be getting louder and more frequent. Once or twice, Nico could have sworn that he saw the shadows deep in the abyss move slightly, like they were coiling up to spring.

It was the ninth patrol that he had been on when he was injured.

He had inspected the rim of the Pit several times, and, finding nothing wrong with it, was about to return and report to his father when some type of winged insect-looking monster had buzzed its way out of the Pit. Unfortunately, Nico had been looking the other way and the thing had managed to surprise him. Hearing the buzzing behind him, Nico had managed to move slightly out of the way, preventing the thing from impaling his back with its stinger, but it still scraped across his upper arm, making a long, slightly deep cut.

His battle instincts had kicked in shortly after that, and he had quickly used his Stygian iron sword to slice off the wings on the creature's left side, causing it to list back into the pit, buzzing angrily as it fell. Nico had stared after the falling monster, wondering to himself what the Hades it was, when the scratch on his arm made itself felt.

The unexpected pain had shocked him; it felt like there were tiny red hot ants crawling around inside the cut, making their way down his shoulder to his fingertips. The agony was beyond anything else that he had felt before, even when he had fallen directly into the Phlegethon in Tartarus. The pain was great enough to break his concentration, and the six skeleton guards disintegrated around him. Nico forced himself to take deep breaths as wave after wave of pain racked through his body. Gritting his teeth, he took out his canteen of nectar and tried to wash out the wound with it, but instead of bringing relief from the pain, the golden liquid burned like acid, causing the scratch to turn a dark greenish yellow color. The pain threatened to make Nico pass out, but he managed to stay conscious through an effort of sheer willpower.

Nico tried to focus as he went through his options. For whatever reason, field medicine wasn't working, so he had to get somewhere where someone could heal him. Obviously, staying where he was wasn't an option; it would be several hours before the next patrol would come along, and Nico doubted that he could withstand the pain that long. Besides, he could already feel the dark gravity of the open Pit next to him trying to pull him in. No, staying put was definitely not an option.

He could try to shadow travel back to Hades's palace, but he wasn't sure if he had the energy to go that far; it was taking all of his energy to stay conscious as it was. Ignoring that fact, he didn't want to see the disappointed look on his father's face when he came into the throne room wounded and begging for relief. Nico would rather die than have his father be disappointed in him again. So, no, returning to the palace was definitely not an option.

He didn't want to try to go back to Camp Half-Blood either, though. He could see the looks that people gave him when they thought he wasn't looking. No matter how many times he made a difference in the world, no matter how many different times he had saved the campers's butts, they would always look at him like an outsider. It didn't matter what Will said..

A small hope bloomed in his chest. Will was the best healer at camp, and had actually proclaimed himself Nico's personal physician. Admittedly, there was nobody else that Nico wanted to heal him anyway, and he had been missing Will for a while. Nico tried to think; Will had talked about maybe going home after things had settled down a little, because he had missed his family. If he remembered right, Will lived in Oriental, North Carolina in a condo on the harbor. Will had actually shown him a couple of pictures from home, of his family and stuff...

A fresh wave of agony swept through Nico's arm again, causing him to grit his teeth. That cinched it; he was going to Oriental. Closing his eyes against the pain, Nico focused on the memory of Will's house and stepped backward into the darkness. As the shadows folded themselves around him, there was only one thought on his mind:

"_I reeaally hope he is happy to see me."__  
><em>

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><p>Will Solace, son of Apollo, Senior Healer for Camp Half-Blood and Head Counselor of the Apollo Cabin, was officially bored out of his mind. He had thought that after all of the stress of the Giant War, it would be nice to be able to slow down his life a little; go back home, visit his family, maybe enroll for his sophomore year at the local high school. After all, all of his friends had moved on with their lives when the war ended; Percy and Annabeth went to New Rome to meet with representatives for the university there, and Leo had gotten special permission from Poseidon to go study with the Cyclops under Krakatoa in Hawaii. Jason and Piper were both busy with camp, and according to Chiron, Frank had apparently gone with Hazel and Nico to the Underworld for whatever reason.<p>

Nico.

Will heaved a sigh, running his long slender fingers through his golden hair. If he was being honest with himself, Nico's absence from the camp was probably one of the biggest reasons that he had decided to take a break from the whole "being a half-blood" thing. In the weeks following the end of the Giant War, the son of Hades and Will had gotten a lot closer; they had gone from being aquaintances to friends to close friends pretty quickly. Then, right as Will had realized that he might have felt something more than just friendship for Nico, the dang kid had to up and move to the Underworld without so much as a hug goodbye. No, instead all he got was a hastily written note explaining that he had been called to his father's palace and had to leave immediately. The guy was infuriating, to say the least.

Of course, Will had to admit to himself, Nico was definitely worth the annoyance. In all of his 15 years, Will had never met anyone as stubborn or as deep as the Ghost King. His deep brown eyes held so much sadness and insecurity, and the healer in Will wanted nothing more than to find the cause of Nico's pain and fix it. Not to mention the fact that his shaggy black hair, strong wiry arms and lightly olive complexion all made Will's heart skip a beat.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Will made a mental note to send a strongly worded prayer to Aphrodite. No matter what his feelings for Nico may or may not have been, they were not relevant now. In the month and a half since he had returned home from Camp Half-Blood, he hadn't gotten so much as an Iris message from the son of Hades. Will grinned wryly to himself; Nico might have been the strongest demigod that he had ever met, but he was definitely not the best at staying in touch with his friends.

Will looked down at the trigonometry homework on the desk in front of him and groaned softly. When Nico had left camp, the son of Apollo decided to talk to Chiron about going home for the school year to spend some time with his family; after all, he hadn't seen them in almost a year. Chiron had seen the look in Will's eye and agreed that maybe a change of scenery was for the best. At first, Will had been really excited to be home- he had missed his mom and his twin younger brothers, Marcus and Mitchell, while he was at camp. But after about the third week of school, his enthusiasm had worn off.

He had traded days of hunting monsters in the woods and relaxing by the lake for afternoons of math homework and late nights trying to conjugate Spanish verbs, and the transition was not going well. Over the last year, he had gotten used to the excitement that was part of everyday life at Camp Half-Blood, and all of the fun that he had with his fellow campers (especially Nico). When you compared that with the everyday life that he had signed himself up for, well, it was obvious which lifestyle was more interesting to Will's ADHD brain.

Will was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of his mother's voice calling in from the living room. "Will, could you get the door please? I need to keep your brothers from killing each other." Rolling his eyes slightly, Will yelled back in his smooth tenor, "Sure, mom, just a second!" He stood up hastily; any excuse to get away from his cursed trig homework was a welcome one. Stretching himself like a cat, he padded to his front door and opened it, already greeting the person outside it. "Hey, can I help you...?" he trailed off and his eyes widened as he took in who was standing on his porch.

Nico let a smile spread across his pale face as he waved slightly at the son of Apollo in front of him. "Hey, Will, what's going on?" he croaked, and then pitched forward, going limp as a ragdoll as Will barely managed to catch him.

**End Chapter One**


	2. Nico Likes Fleecy Blankets

Nico awoke to the feeling of a warm blanket with a pounding in his head and a throbbing in his arm. Trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes, he attempted to sit up- and immediately decided that it was a bad decision. The second that he tried to sit up, a wave of nausea hit him hard, and he completely lost his sense of balance. Squeezing his eyes shut, he flopped back to where he had been laying, trying desperately not to throw up. After he calmed down, he counted to ten and hesitantly cracked one eye open, waiting for the queasiness to return. When it didn't, he opened the other eye and took in his surroundings.

He found that he was laying on a bed wrapped in a yellow fleecy blanket that smelled familiar to him, like cinnamon almost, with a hint of something else- citrus, maybe? He couldn't exactly place it, but he knew he had smelled it somewhere before. He looked around the room he was in, and noticed that it was relatively spartan. The walls were painted a sky blue color with golden highlights, which went well with the sunlight streaming in from each of the two windows in the room, one of which was directly alongside the bed. The other window was over a desk across the room from the bed. The other furniture in the room was only a dresser and a bookshelf filled with books that looked like they hadn't been opened in a very long time. All in all the room was spacious, airy and bright- not exactly Nico's personal style, but he found that a part of him liked it.

As he was looking around, the door next to the bed opened and a small blonde kid crept in, a mischievous smile on his face. Quietly shutting the door behind him, the kid snuck over to the desk, completely ignoring Nico, and scribbled something on one of the papers there. Looking very pleased with himself, the boy turned around and froze, seeing Nico for the first time. Feeling pretty self-conscious, Nico self-conscious waved at the kid, wondering who he was. The boy, who looked like he was in about the fourth grade, just looked at him, which did nothing for Nico's self-consciousness. The boy inspected the son of Hades for a moment, and then without taking his startlingly blue eyes off of Nico, yelled (Nico thought unnecessarily loudly), "MOM! THAT GUY IS AWAKE!"

Nico winced at the sudden noise, the pounding in his head reaching new levels. He groaned softly, squeezing his eyes shut again. As he tried desperately to fight against his headache, he heard the footfalls of two people enter the room. A woman's voice began scolding the child, "Marcus, what have I told you about going in your brother's room? Especially when we have a guest staying there?! Go wait in your bedroom, I'll come deal with you in a minute."

"Ok, mom," the kid's voice replied, sounding completely unashamed. Nico heard the sound of small footsteps leaving the room, and then of the door shutting behind them. The woman sighed. "I'm sorry, hon, I've tried to talk to him about it. He's just curious about his brother, that's all." A second voice replied in a soft tenor, a voice that Nico definitely recognized. "Don't worry about it, mom. He wouldn't be as curious about me if I was home more often." Nico cracked open his eyes again and saw the one person he wanted to see more than anything right then.

"Well, that kid definitely has a set of lungs on him," he said, attracting the attention of the other people in the room. Nico grinned slightly, his eyes fixed on the son of Apollo in front of him. "You must have taught him a lot about noise projection, Will."

The tanned healer turned and looked at him, a concerned look in his eyes. He quickly walked over to Nico and started to fix his bandage and fluff his pillow, fussing over him like a mother hen. "Nico, what the Tartarus happened to you?! You show up at my door at eleven o'clock at night, all pale and bloody and barely blurt out a 'hello' before passing out on me! It took me a good three hours of healing to make sure that you wouldn't die while you slept! I had no idea what might have happened to you, because I have had no idea what you have been doing! Why haven't you written me letters, or Iris-messaged me, or tried to contact me at all? Do you have any idea how worried I have been?!"

This last statement was accompanied by an accusing glare and a finger poking Nico in the chest, neither of which phased the Ghost King. Nico half-smiled up at the irate teenager in front of him. "It's good to see you too, Will." And it was true. Nico had missed the energetic son of Apollo since he had been in the Underworld. He hadn't quite realized how much Will had grown on him since the end of the Giant War, but once he wasn't part of Nico's everyday life, there had been this void slowly growing in Nico's stomach that had once been filled with skeletal butterflies.

Will huffed slightly at the grinning demigod, a smile threatening to break through his angry glare. "Damn it, di Angelo, I'm trying to be mad here. Stop that infernal smiling at once." The woman, who had been silently watching the interaction between the two teens, giggled quietly. When both boys turned to look at her, she covered her mirth with one hand. "Oh, please, don't stop on my account," she said, her velvety green eyes glittering with laughter. "Go ahead arguing like an old married couple, it's pretty entertaining."

Both boys blushed slightly, glancing at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. Will cleared his throat and spoke. "Nico, I'd like you to meet my mother, Addison Solace. Mom, this is Nico di Angelo, son of Hades and the most stubborn guy I have ever met in my life." Nico swatted at Will's teasing and turned his attention toward the woman. "It is very nice to meet you, Mrs. Solace. Will has told me an awful lot about you." Actually, Nico didn't know much about Will's mother besides her name, but figured that in situations like this, there were protocols that needed to be followed.

Apparently Will's mother had no such illusions. She ignored Nico's proffered hand and went in for a hug. "Oh please, Mrs. Solace makes me sound like an old lady. Call me Addy, everyone does," she said, wrapping her arms around Nico's neck. Nico stiffened slightly at the unexpected embrace, but slowly reciprocated, using his good hand to awkwardly pat her on the back. He didn't really hug that often; in fact, he had only ever hugged about three people in his life, and most of those happened when Bianca was still alive. He considered the feeling of having someone hold you like that, and decided that it was nice.

It stopped being nice when Will's mother pulled away from the hug and her hand accidentally brushed up against his bandage. It was a gentle touch, all things considered, but it still caused enough pain to make Nico clench his teeth and hiss in agony. The pain had been mostly gone when he woke up, but they returned with a vengeance as soon as Addy touched his wound. Will was by his side in an instant, a look of determined concern etched on his chiseled face.

Will had fully entered his healer mode, looking the wounded demigod in the eye and speaking in a calm, clear voice: "Nico, I need you to tell me what exactly happened to you. For whatever reason, your arm isn't healing the way it should. When I tried to clean it last night, it just seemed to get worse. What happened to you?"

Nico used his good hand to rub his temple. In his slightly rough baritone, he told Will what was going on. "When Father called Hazel and I back to the Underworld, he told us about some... issues in his kingdom that worried him, to say the least. Apparently, the things that live in Tartarus have become restless since the war ended, and that made Father really, well, uneasy. He called Hazel and I back to set up a guard around the rim of the Pit. I thought that it was kinda unnecessary at the time, but apparently he made the right call. I was on my shift for the guard when I got surprised by this weird bug-looking monster. I killed it pretty easily, but it managed to sting my arm before I sent it back to Tartarus."

Will nodded solemnly, a small shadow of worry flashing across his face. "I figured that there was some sort of venom in the wound that kept me from healing it. Luckily, I managed to contain it just to that shoulder, so it won't spread to the rest of your body. If you hadn't gotten to me by the time that you did..." He looked away, his normally grinning lips compressed to a thin unsmiling line. "Let's just say you would be spending a lot more time with your father."

Nico looked even more grim than usual at that prospect. His normally bright amber eyes had narrowed, and an aura of gloominess descended over him. Will noticed this immediately, and his heart broke for Nico a little. The son of Hades had been through so much, and it killed Will that he wasn't able to just protect his friend from all the dark parts of the world. Leaning down, Will grabbed Nico's good hand and held it, meeting Nico's surprised look with a bright smile on his face. "Buuuuut thanks to your quick thinking and my excellent (if I do say so myself) healing skills, we don't have to worry about that," Will said, a bright twinkle in his eye.

Nico met Will's sky blue eyes and felt his melancholy mood and worry melt away like snow under the spring sun. He smiled back up at the son of Apollo, a familiar feeling of skeletal butterflies echoing throughout his core. "And thank the gods above for that," he whispered huskily, unconsciously rubbing his thumb against the side of Will's hand. Will blushed slightly at the affectionate contact, but did not pull away. Seeing the romantic tension between the two demigods, Will's mother smiled slightly and cleared her throat, causing both Will and Nico to jump slightly and release each other, blushing madly.

Addy smiled at the two boys, a teasing twinkle flashing in her dark green eyes behind her round glasses. Will groaned inwardly at the look on his mother's face. _She is going to say something embarrassing, I know that look! Nico is going to get pissed at me and things are going to get awkward... _Resigning himself to his mother's good natured but unhelpful ribbing, Will gritted his teeth and waited for the inevitable comment.

Which was apparently completely evitable. The antagonistic comment that Will expected never came. Instead, Addy just grinned and said, "Well, I don't know about you boys, but I am hungry. How does grilled cheese and tomato soup sound?" The normally eloquent healer stood speechless for once, surprised at his mother. He knew the look that he had seen in her eyes, and it nearly always preceded some sort of off-the-wall comment or slightly humiliating joke. Apparently this time was an exception to the rule.

Nico, slightly uncomfortable in the silence after Addy's offer to make lunch, decided to speak. "That'd be very nice, Mrs. Sola- er, Addy. For some reason, I feel like I haven't eaten in days." The ghost king's stomach rumbled slightly at this statement, as if in agreement. Nico, slightly ashamed of the noise, turned red and mumbled an apology, which Addy laughed off. "I'll take it as a compliment," she chuckled, smiling warmly at him. "Will, why don't you come help me in the kitchen and let your friend relax a bit? I'm sure after all that has happened, he's pretty exhausted." Nico tried to protest; he wanted Will to stay and talk with him for a while, and he was feeling fine, really, but Addy would hear none of it. All but pushing the also-protesting Will out of the doorway, she turned and spoke again to Nico. "We will be in with your lunch in a while, hon. For now you just try and rest, ok?" And without waiting for a reply, she ducked out the doorway after Will, leaving a bemused Nico to try and figure out what just happened.

Nico had very rarely met someone who had been as accepting of his presence as Addy; he supposed that Will must have gotten his kindness as stubbornness from somewhere. Still, it was very new to him that an almost complete stranger would take in a random and slightly bloody boy from the street, let him sleep in her house and then make him grilled cheese. Shaking his head slightly, Nico flopped back on the bed, being careful not to touch his cut, and snuggled into the brightly colored blanket. As he breathed in the pleasant cinnamony-citrus smell that the fleece exuded, he realized why it was so familiar to him. The blanket smelled just like Will did. This newfound piece of knowledge brought a slight smile to his face, and he wrapped the blanket even tighter around himself, sighing in contentment. He fell asleep dreaming that he was in Will's arms.

**End Chapter 2**

I live and breathe for feedback :)


	3. Will Hates Being Tickled

(A/N) Oh. My. Gods.

I owe you guys a giant apology. I never intended to go this long without updating, but it just sort of happened. Life has been increasingly hectic lately (I blame Finals) and somehow this fic got shunted to the back of my To-Do List. I will try to update more consistently from now on (every Wednesday). Sorry I am late, and I hope this longer-than-usual fic sorta makes up for it!

~Nexus

Will sat at the kitchen table, mixing a can of tomato soup with a few cups of milk and trying to collect his thoughts. It had been over a month and a half since he had seen Nico, or even heard from him, and he had been starting to think that maybe he was imagining the connection that he had felt with the young son of Hades. Obviously, if Nico had cared about him at all, he would have at least attempted to get a message to Will- an Iris message, or send a Fury with a letter. Will shivered a little; well, maybe not send a Fury. But there were still tons of other ways that Nico could have reached him, and for whatever reason, Nico had decided not to. So, after about a month or so of no word from the Ghost King, Will had decided to try and stop thinking about him; after all, if Nico didn't care enough to even attempt to communicate with him, then Will was just setting himself up for heartbreak.

So he had tried his best to get over Nico, throwing himself into other pursuits. He was a section leader and played tenor saxophone in his high school marching band, sang in the varsity chorus, was on the honor roll, Captain of the school archery team (well, duh), and was even enrolled in Driver's Ed. He had thought that being involved in so many other things would introduce him to a bunch of new people, and keep him busy enough to keep his mind of a certain son of Hades.

The problem was, his plan had worked a little too well.

The other students in the different activities actually resented Will for coming in out of nowhere and, almost without effort, becoming the best at everything that he tried. The other band kids were nice enough to him at first, but when he was appointed a section leader after the director heard him play, the rest of the saxophones started to become bitter. The same thing had happened in Archery; when he outscored the previous captain, a big Italian kid named Nathan, without even warming up, the team collectively decided that he was cheating somehow and refused to acknowledge him as the new captain. It didn't help either that Nathan was also captain of the football team, and liked by almost everyone. Normally pissing off one or two groups wasn't too big of a deal, but this was different. Oriental's high school was small enough that most of the kid's were involved in more than one activity, and everyone knows that high schoolers have a tendency to gossip. After Will had unintentionally shown Nathan up, his unpopularity had spread like the Black Plague, and for once Will didn't have a cure. After being enrolled in Oriental High for only two days, Will had managed to turn almost the entire school against him. So basically, Will was trapped in different activities without a single friendly face- and because of this, he was miserable. Granted, his heart wasn't broken, but he was still miserable.

Then, out of nowhere, Nico had quite literally collapsed back into his life, and now Will didn't quite know what to think. Part of him was overjoyed to see one of his closest friends again; after the less-than-smooth transition to civilian life, he had been missing his old way of living more than he liked to admit, and especially a certain slightly dark son of Hades. Ironically, seeing the son of Hades melt out of the shadows had been like a ray of bright sunlight to Will, and he couldn't be happier that Nico was here.

And yet.

Another slightly more pessimistic part of him was extremely worried about Nico's presence. As soon as the Underworld Ambassador had shown up on his porch, he had felt his neglected feelings for him come rushing back full force. Will knew himself well enough to know that he was falling for Nico, and falling hard. Since he had realized that he liked members of his own gender, Will had had a few crushes, but nothing serious. The way he felt about Nico was different than he had ever felt about anyone else before. While he had recognized that other guys were attractive, and had even flirted back and forth with some of them, he always thought about the other guys as just that- other guys that he thought were hot. Nico was, well, different. He had started out as a friend, and then Will's feelings for him had started to grow, from friend to best friend to crush. Then Nico had disappeared off to the Underworld, and the feelings that Will had realized he had slowly went dormant.

Now, Nico was back, and Will had no idea what he should do. If he straight up told Nico the way he felt, he risked losing one of the closest friends that he had ever had, not to mention being alone in his new miserable life again. On the other hand, he couldn't just sit by and watch Nico leave again; it had hurt him enough the first time. Staring off into space, Will tried to figure out his best course of action- should he risk one of the closest relationships he had ever had outside his family, or do his best to keep his heart where it was?

"Um, Will?" His mother's voice brought his head out of the sky, slamming it back to the present. Turning his sky-blue eyes towards the stove, he caught his mother looking at him, a small smile on her face. "I think that you might have stirred that a little to thoroughly." A questioning look on his face, Will looked down at the bowl in his arms and groaned.

While he had spaced off trying to think of a solution to his 'Nico dilemma" he had continued to stir the tomato soup in front of him, and as he had gotten progressively more "energetic" while stirring. When he wasn't paying attention, he had slopped the tomato soup all over the table in front of him and down the front of his shirt, staining the white cotton tee with the red liquid. The souped-up piece of cloth felt slimy and cold against his torso, which was not at all a good feeling for the son of the sun god. Grimacing slightly, Will turned back to his mother.

"Crap, I'm sorry, Mom. I kinda got distracted. Could you throw me a roll of paper towels or something?" Addy grinned, the mischievous twinkle in her eye growing some. "By any chance, were you 'distracted' by the thoughts of a certain wounded demigod in your bedroom?" she teased, reaching into a drawer next to her. Drawing out a folded rag, she walked over to the table and handed it to her lightly blushing son.

One of the things that Addy loved about Will was his energy; when he was happy, he would buzz all around the house like a sunbeam, grinning and joking with the rest of the family until they were in the same mood that he was, whether they wanted to be or not. Of course, one of the hazards of having a son of Apollo around was the noise that would inevitably follow; when Will was a toddler, both his tantrums and his fits of giggles were loudly infectious, filling their house like a warm gust of wind. As he got older, he mellowed some, but his moods still tended to be a bit "audible".

Addy had never seen her son like this before. For once, Will was, well, quiet. Normally he would have joked back and forth with his mother, reassuring her in his own way that nothing was wrong, but today he simply blushed and started to clean up the spilled soup, avoiding eye contact with her. It reminded her of the way she used to act when a certain god of poetry was around... She shook her head and smiled to herself. She could reminisce later; right now, her son needed her.

Pulling up a chair next to Will, Addy laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You really like this boy, don't you, honey?" Will mumbled something under his breath, still refusing to meet his mother's eyes. Biting back a grin, Addy decided that the only way to make her son talk was through desperate measures. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," she stated, the teasing tone back in her voice. Tracing her hand down Will's shoulder to the side of his ribcage, she continued. "Maybe you would be a little more talkative if I told Nico what happens when you-"

Will's head snapped up, a look of pleased dread on his face. "You wouldn't! That's evil, even for you!" He looked into Addy's face, searching for any hint that she was joking or bluffing, finding nothing but an antagonistic glee. Addy grinned menacingly, her dark green eyes twinkling like stars. "Oh, try me, buster!" she whispered, and suddenly she began tickling Will without mercy. The son of Apollo spasmed violently under his mother's tickling hands, the troubled look on his face transitioning into one of hilarity. Addy smiled at the sound of Will's laughter; the bell-like peals of his giggling never failed to make her happy.

After a while, she stopped tickling her son and instead hugged him, being careful to avoid the soupier parts of his shirt. Catching his breath, Will returned his mother's hug. They held each other like that for a while, just enjoying being near each other. After a few moments of hugging, Addy spoke. "Don't worry about it, honey. I saw the way that you two were acting around each other earlier, and the romantic tension between you two was almost enough to make ME blush. If I were you, I would just let stuff play out, and then whatever happens, happens." She smiled at her son, a genuine look of encouragement and happiness on her face. "I do see things ending well, though." Will met his mother's gaze, searching for any clue or hint that she was being even slightly dishonest. Finding nothing to indicate any subterfuge, Will let a small grin creep across his face. "Are you sure?" he asked, a hesitant note in his voice. Addy reached out and fluffed her son's hair. "Trust me, kiddo. Woman's intuition is never wrong."

Breaking apart, Will smiled at his mother. "Thanks, mom. You always know how to make things seem better," he said, a small smile on his face. Addy grinned back at her son, proud of the young man that he was turning out to be. She looked at him for a few seconds, her own smile fading a little as she got a faraway look in her eyes. Will noticed the way that his mother's expression changed, and adopted a face full of concern. "Mom? You ok?" he said softly, his blue eyes fixed on his Addy's green. She shook herself and changed her facial expression from proud to slightly wistful. "Yeah, of course, honey. I was just thinking how much you look like your father." Sensing the sadness in his mother's voice, Will leaned forward hugged her again. "You still miss him, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," she replied, a small note of melancholy in her voice as she returned Will's embrace. "I haven't seen him since he gave me the twins, and that was almost a decade ago.." Will felt a small knot of anger is his chest form at his father; how dare anyone make his mother hurt this way! He made a mental note to add Apollo to the list of gods he needed to have words with. Seemingly sensing Will's train of thought, Addy pulled away from the hug and smiled at her son reassuringly, blinking back a barely-formed tear. "Luckily, I still have you and your brothers. You boys are the sunshine in my life now, and that is enough for me." Picking at the red-stained shirt on her son's torso, Addy continued, her trademark teasing tone reentering her voice. "Of course, I could do without the cleaning of the messes that you produce, but such is the price I pay for my family."

Will laughed, somewhat relieved that his mother was ok. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I'll go get cleaned up," he said, and briefly the twinkle in his mother's eye was mirrored in his own. "First, though, I don't think that I have demonstrated just how much I love you, Mommy! Come here!" And with that, he grabbed his mother in a giant bear hug, making sure to get as much soup on her as was on him. Addy struggled playfully, trying to get out of her son's grip, but the months training at Camp Half-Blood had made her son lean and strong. After half a minute of struggling, Addy resigned herself to her fate and hugged her son back. Will released his mother and leaned back, a satisfied smile on his face. Almost immediately after he released her, however, Addy reached around and smacked her son on the back of the head, a full-on grin on her face. "Go get cleaned up, you ruffian!" she scolded with a note of amusement in her voice. Will just laughed quietly and padded of toward the bathroom adjoining his bedroom, leaving his mother grinning and smeared with cold tomato soup.

* * *

><p>Nico awoke to the sound of running water. The sound always tended to relax him; one of his most treasured memories was sitting by the bank of the River Lethe with his father and Hazel. Hearing the sound now confused him, though. He wasn't in the Underworld anymore, he was cuddled up in a fuzzy blanket on Will's bed. Remembering that, Nico felt his face heat up. He was cuddled up in a blanket on Will's bed, and if he remembered his dreams correctly, he had been having <em>very<em> vivid fantasies about the son of Apollo. He could feel his face start to glow like a stoplight as the dreams came back to him.

_Will sauntered over to the side of his bed, a look of teasing lustfulness plastered across his chiseled face. For whatever reason, he wasn't dressed like he usually was in jeans and an orange Camp shirt. Instead, Will had donned a pair of white scrubs and a stethoscope. He would have looked like something straight out of one of those medical dramas that Hazel liked, except for one thing- he was not wearing a shirt!_

_Nico couldn't keep his gaze off of the tanned exposed skin, letting his eyes feast on Will's defined chest and abdomen. As his mouth slowly went dry, he wondered what it would feel like to reach out and run his fingers across the washboard that was Will's stomach. Before Nico's mind could start thinking in a more adult manner, however, Will spoke._

_"Good evening, Mr. di Angelo, I understand that you aren't feeling well. I'm Dr. Solace, and I am here to make you feel better," dream-Will said, a low smoky purr in his voice. Nico swallowed and blushed at the obvious innuendo in his words. This was turning into a very good dream, indeed. Noticing Nico's reaction, dream-Will grinned slightly, with a lustful, teasing glint still in his eye. "Well, your face is flushed. That could mean a fever, which is definitely not good," dream-Will drawled. "Here, let me take your temperature." With that, he leaned down and placed his hands on either side of Nico's neck, gently caressing his soft pale skin. _

_Nico let out an audible eep at the unexpected contact, but did not shrink away from the unexpected touch. Instead, he gazed up into Will's deep sky-blue eyes, getting lost in them like a lone eagle above the clouds. Dream-Will spoke again, his voice dripping with huskiness. "Your pulse is getting awfully fast, Mr. di Angelo. If I didn't know better, I would say that you-" Will started to lean closer, "-were getting-" Nico could feel Will's warm, cinnamony breath on his face, oh gods, "-excited."_

Nico was torn from the recollection from his dream by the sound of someone singing. He found that he was breathing heavily, and there was a sensation in his stomach that he hadn't felt for weeks, as if there were skeletal butterflies fluttering around his abdomen. He blushed slightly, smiling to himself. He had missed the feeling that he got alongside the butterflies, and it was good to have them back. He turned his attention to the voice mixed in with the sound of running water and the smell of hot, humid air.

"Heeeee'ss mmaahhhhh cherry pie! Cool drink of water, such a sweet sur-priiise!" The voice was a rich tenor, filled with emotion and vibrato. Nico's still slightly sleepy brain was impressed; whoever it was that was singing was one of the greatest vocalists that he had ever heard. He almost recognized the voice; it definitely sounded familiar to him, at least. He knew that he should recognize it, but he couldn't. Wracking his brains, Nico tried his best to put a face to the song, and like a blast of sunlight, he got it. The voice was Will's! He felt a self-satisfied smile ooze across his face and he settled back down on the pillow, re-wrapping himself in the blanket. As the sound of the running water petered off, Nico felt a niggling thought in the back of his still-sluggish brain. Singing, running water, hot humid air? He felt like those things all had something in common, but he couldn't- his eyes widened as he pieced it together. Before he could react to the information that was now in his head, Will entered the room through a doorway just behind the bed, still humming the tune he had been singing not 45 seconds before. Nico felt his heart stop as he watched the son of Apollo walk past the bed toward the chest of drawers on the other side of the room.

Will Solace, chief healer for Camp Half Blood and child of the Sun God, was wearing nothing but a bath towel!

**End Chapter 3**


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